Master of the Wards
by solunvar
Summary: Sequel to 'Master of the Game'. Confronted with Harry Potters ultimatum, what will several core members of the Ministry of Magic decide?


﻿Master of the Wards

"Croaker, Department of Mysteries, requesting an audience with Amelia Bones."

"Madam Bones expected your arrival," the secretary said. "You may enter her office."

Croaker went inside and seated him in one of the seats opposite Amelia's desk.

"We are only waiting for the arrival of several of my Aurors," Amelia said.

The door opened. Rufus Scrimgeour, Senior Auror and Assistant Head of the Auror Corps, entered, followed by retired Auror Alastor Moody, Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minister Guard Derrick Dawlish. They all took their respective seats and waited for their superior to commence the briefing.

"You are all aware of Harry James Potter's trial for underage usage of magic this morning? Do any of you know the consequences of this trial?" Amelia asked. Other than Croaker, none of them nodded.

"During his trial, Potter referred to the Underage Wizards and Witches Protective Act of 1679 where it is clearly stated minor citizens of Wizarding Britain may not be prosecuted in full court. Using the precedence of 1793, Potter forced the Wizengammot and Ministry to acknowledge his rights as an adult, effectively negating the charges he was brought to court for.

"Furthermore, he provided evidence that the Undersecretary of Minister Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, ordered two Dementors to Kiss him. Umbridge immediately was taken to a holding cell in the Department. Potter also filed two major complaints, one claiming abuse and illegal imprisonment concerning Black by the Ministry of Magic.

"The second complaint referred to the slander and abuse of power the Ministry and specifically the Minister has performed since the end of the Triwizard Tournament. When the Minister refused to obey Potter's demands of an official apology directed towards him and a Veritaserum-based trial for Black, Potter confessed to implanting seven bombs in the Ministry building that will explode if something happens to his person or the Ministry doesn't accommodate to his wishes.

"No actions were taken yet due to my interference. While the Minister and the Wizengammot were going into hysterics, I felt it prudent to check the accuracy of his claims first. Croaker, what have the Unspeakable discovered so far?"

"The wards placed around this building prevent anything harmful from being implanted. In other words, no bombs have been placed in the traditional sense of the word."

"Senior Auror Moody, what are your findings?" Amelia asked.

"At first sight, everything seemed to be all right, nothing seems to have been added in any place I saw so far. There is, however, something peculiar going on with the warding crystals."

"Auror Shacklebolt, you have checked the Ministry logs, what can you tell us?"

"Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary in the logs, except for several nights over eight months ago. I doubt those have anything to do with Potter though."

"What do they say?" Scrimgeour ordered. He had been reading the transcript of the hearing while listening to the other men's reports, putting together what he knew of Muggle bombs, warding, Potter and the Ministry.

Shacklebolt briefly looked to Amelia, receiving a nod, and read. "Time of arrival, place of arrival, name visitor, reason of visit. Tenth of October 1994 – 02:37 AM –Visitor's Entrance – Julius Caesar – Battling the Belgians.

"Twenty-fifth of October 1994 – 03:12 AM – Visitor's Entrance – David – Tricking Goliath.

"Ninth of November 1994 – 01:57 AM – Visitor's Entrance – Alexander the Great – Conquering Persia.

"Twenty-seventh of November 1994 – 02:34 AM – Visitor's Entrance – Myrrdin and LeFay – Making love.

"Eighteenth of December 1994 – 04:03 AM – Mozes – Split the Red Sea.

"Fourteenth of January 1995 – 02:23 AM – Salazar Slytherin – Raise a basilisk.

"Fourth of August 1995 – 07:32 AM – Harry James Potter – Making history."

Scrimgeour leaned forward, his head in his arms. "Moody, you mentioned something is off with the wardstones?"

Moody nodded. "Every crystal, diamond and rock dedicated to the wards has a different glow. Usually, I'm able to see wards like colors through this eye of mine, but since I returned visiting the Ministry this summer their color is off. At first I thought it had something to do with that Crouch kid using my eye for a year, but I'm starting to doubt it."

"Croaker, you mentioned no bombs have been brought into the Ministry building. Has anything been altered within the building that could potentially be dangerous? If so, can they be removed?"

Croaker smiled mysteriously. "Over the course of one year, the Ministry wards have expanded considerably, yes. The Department of Mysteries has been onto Harry Potter for a long time already and made it a point to know exactly what his plans were and are. There is a reason we haven't stopped Potter or interfered before the changes were irreversible, though I am not going to disclose the Department's reasons."

The four Aurors glanced at each other. The day just got interesting.

"What did Potter do?" Amelia questioned.

"Over the course of seven entries, Harry Potter added several destructive elements to key points in the ward scheme, going from adding a batch of a very volatile potion that would explode given the right signal, to adding a crystal in one level enchanted to rapidly spread poisonous fumes. Every 'bomb' is anchored to the wards of the Ministry. Why you would have to disable every ward before being able to remove them. Seeing as several parts of this building need those wards to keep volatile elements in check, Potter's construction is here to stay (or to explode)."

Amelia creased her brows. "There absolutely is no way to get out of this?"

Croaker shook his head merrily. "We've been studying them for months now; that boy simply is a genius!"

"I'm sure he is," Scrimgeour dryly said, making a mental note never to be on the wrong side of the Boy-Who-Lived. "This leaves us with several issues, however."

The occupants of the room nodded.

"Fudge needs to go," Moody said. "Reading between the lines, Potter demands the Ministry to serve the people, not own the people. While that attitude is correct, it's also unrealistic. The best we're able to do is go through Ministry personnel and departments, see where things are going wrong and purify them."

"Too bad we can't simply switch building," Shacklebolt mentioned.

"Are we going to give into Potter?" Scrimgeour asked.

Amelia Bones contemplated the changes this could bring forth. She had wanted to see a few things change for a long time now, but never had the opportunity shown itself. With Potter's said and unsaid requests, he reminded many of them, Amelia included, that they weren't all powerful, but weren't powerless at the same time. He said his opinion, made sure his actions couldn't bite him in the ass later on and added a bit of pressure. While the idea of threatening a person into changing didn't sit right with her, it apparently was a very effective way.

"We are," Amelia affirmed. "While I don't like the setup of his plan, it gives us the perfect opportunity to change a few things."

Scrimgeour nodded. "Never thought I'd come to appreciate Potter. Him offering himself as motivation and scape goat will make it a lot easier."

"I hope you'll remember not to make the same mistakes twice?" Croaker asked, before announcing he would leave the meeting. Moody followed the former, not interested in politics and wanting to look at Potter's construction himself. Bones, Scrimgeour and Shacklebolt continued discussing until the evening.


End file.
